Promoting synergy among disciplines
Swamy Abhayamrita Chaitanya - Bringing different academic branches together.
AMRITA VISHWA Vidyapeetham Deemed University is working to bring together different academic disciplines to meet the needs of society.
"All our centres are working in tandem today because of a common interest. Society these days requires an interdisciplinary approach. We need synergy between various frontiers of higher education," said Abhayamrita Chaitanya, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Deemed University.
"For example, bio-medical instrumentation cannot avoid the use of high technology. Therefore, our engineering, bio-technology and medical centres are working in tandem," he added.
Stressing that Amrita University was no longer merely an engineering institution, he noted that conferment of Deemed University status had opened up "new vistas of higher education and learning". It had four campuses in four cities, namely, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Kochi and Amritapuri.
Besides its flagship `Schools of Engineering' at Bangalore, Coimbatore and Amritapuri, the University ran a major medical school and other institutions offering graduate and postgraduate courses.
Its latest addition was the `School of Journalism' that was turning into a `School of Media Studies' offering print, broadcast and visual journalism, in addition to advertising and related areas.
During the past nine years, a number of `Centres of Excellence' had emerged, especially in computational engineering, biotechnology, environmental studies, wireless technology and medicine.
Satellite connectivity
Using its satellite connectivity, the University would be able to bring together students and faculty from various centres, and conduct academic programmes even when there was a dearth of highly qualified people in frontier areas of technology, he added.
"We want to get into different levels of synergy at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and also venture into development studies, in areas such as poverty alleviation, women's development and rural economy," he said.
With the `School of Ayurveda' offering a degree programme in ayurvedic medicine, a link up between ayurveda and allopathy was likely, without either branch losing its identity.
"We also have plans to synergise our business schools to offer programmes on economics for engineers. In a credit-based University, students can take such subjects as electives," he noted.
The University was planning to offer several high-end programmes in applied and pure sciences.
By the next academic year, there would be a dual degree, three-year M.Sc. course in physics and mathematics.
It would be useful for students who wanted to do high-end research in such areas as seismology, defence and meteorology.
Hospital information system
Swami Chaitanya said that the University had developed and tested a hospital information system that had turned out to be "unique and highly successful".
"The information system brings together the doctor, patient and hospital administrator," he explained.
"Our hospital administration system is going to be a very big trump card, and multinationals are coming for it. We hope to capitalise on our system all over the world," the Swamiji added.
He observed that the emphasis on service came from the motivation provided by Mata Amritanandamayi.
"All our learning processes should take care of the needs of society. Entertainment, leisure and core work are all an integrated whole," he said. Cultural education would give students a balance between the internal and the external.
A. A. Michael Raj
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